Flipsyde

Mixing together rap, rock, political awareness, and introspection, the Bay Area’s Flipsyde utilize their diverse backgrounds to create ambitious, revolutionary music. MC Piper (known as No the Piper back in his Contra Costa College days) was born to a Brazilian father and learned the Portuguese language growing up. Vocalist Steve Knight was born in Alabama and did a tour of duty in the U.S. Coast Guard. Guitarist Dave Lopez originally emigrated to the U.S. from Chile while DJ D-Sharp had been involved in the world of mixtapes and had worked with the likes of Blackalicious and Lyrics Born before joining Flipsyde. Piper and Knight had known one another for a while when they met Lopez at an Oakland rehearsal studio in 2003. Lopez heard a track Piper and Knight had been working on called “Someday.” He made some suggestions, which turned into a jam, which turned into a band, which became Flipsyde. D-Sharp was the next recruit and pretty soon their demo of “Someday” was becoming the talk of West Coast A&R departments. Interscope Records made an offer and released the group’s debut, We the People, in July of 2005. ~ David Jeffries